US embassy cable - 03ANKARA1346

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001346 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR (D) ARMITAGE, (P) GROSSMAN, (EUR) JONES 
NSC FOR HADLEY, FRIED 
OVP FOR EDELMAN 
OSD FOR WOLFOWITZ, FEITH 
JCS FOR CJCS MYERS, VJCS PACE, J-5 CASEY 
TREASURY FOR U/S TAYLOR 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2013 
TAGS: MARR, MOPS, PREL, TU, IZ 
SUBJECT: TURKEY: PARLIAMENTARY VOTE POST-MORTEM 
 
(U) Classified by Ambassador W. Robert Pearson.  Reasons: 1.5 
(b) and (d). 
 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  MFA U/S told the Ambassador March 1 the 
Turkish system was in shock following defeat of the 
Parliamentary resolution for U.S. and Turkish Troop 
Deployments.  The PM and Government worked hard to convince 
parliamentarians, but felt their efforts were not fully 
understood.  Turkey remains committed to the strategic 
partnership with the U.S. and is ready to work on a broad 
range of issues.  How the Government will pull itself 
together and how it will proceed on the Iraq issue remains an 
open question at this point.  Ziyal asked for supportive U.S. 
statements to help control potential market fallout and a 
provocative Kurdish reaction.  End Summary. 
 
 
2.  (C) Following failure of the Parliamentary vote on troop 
deployments March 1, MFA Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal provided 
the Ambassador with an evaluation of the situation.  Working 
from a prepared text, Ziyal noted that the result left the 
Government, the AK party and the bureaucracy in shock.  The 
Parliament had engaged in a long and heated debate.  The 
Government did everything possible to persuade Parliament to 
vote in favor.  While the Government obtained a simple 
majority in favor, it did not meet the constitutional 
requirement for a majority of the sitting members, failing by 
3 votes (264 yes votes, with 267 of the 533 voting required 
to pass).  The Government told the Parliament that all of the 
MOU,s (Military, Economic and Political) were in place, even 
though we were still just short of full agreement. 
 
 
3.  (C) Ziyal said that the Government had informed the U.S. 
of the difficulties facing it in obtaining Parliamentary 
approval all along the way.  Washington had not understood 
the difficulty.  While the Prime Minister needed time to 
prepare the ground, the delays were seen as procrastination. 
Although officials understood the U.S. need for an early 
response to its requests, the public viewed the U.S. approach 
as putting Turkey under pressure.  Turkey tried to prepare 
agreements in political, military and economic areas to 
persuade Parliament of the benefit of cooperation, but the 
process as seen as bargaining.  Turkey asked the right spin 
be given to the U.S. press, instead Turkey,s difficulties 
were met by mockery.  Last but not least Turkomen were left 
off the presidium committee formed by the Iraqi opposition 
conference almost on the day of the Parliamentary discussion. 
 This issue was directly raised during the Parliament debate. 
 
 
4.  (C) Ziyal noted that the Prime Minister and the 
Government had risked their political future to stand by 
American Friendship.  The AK party would meet Sunday morning, 
he said, to evaluate the result and determine how the 
Government would proceed.  Despite the failure of the 
resolution, Turkey,s commitment to the strategic partnership 
continued, and he hoped the U.S. would recognize and value 
the effort as well as the continuing value of our strategic 
partnership.  Our relationship, Ziyal added is not about just 
one issue, but about the many that we pursue together. 
Turkey is ready to work on with the U.S. on all issues. 
 
 
5.  (C) Ziyal noted that in the immediate aftermath of the 
vote, he had two major concerns.  First was the reaction of 
the financial markets on Monday, and second was the reaction 
of the Iraqi Kurds.  He said the calm reaction from the 
Embassy in the immediate aftermath of the vote was helpful 
and that it is important for the U.S. more generally to 
respond in a measured way to the developments in order to 
limit the difficulties that could develop on those two 
fronts. 
 
 
6.  (C) The Ambassador responded that the U.S. appreciated 
the Government's effort to work for a favorable decision.  He 
noted that the relative majority of those who expressed an 
opinion favored passage of the measure.  He said the U.S. 
would need some practical information as it evaluated next 
steps.  We would need to know as soon as possible whether the 
Government would consider taking the issue back to 
parliament, and in what form that might happen.  Following 
the leadership meeting the Ambassador said we hoped the 
Government would be able to give us an idea of the options 
and time frames it was considering as soon as possible. 
Ziyal answered that it was impossible to make any predictions 
at this juncture, but that as the GOT began to evaluate its 
course, it was extremely important to know what the U.S. was 
thinking as well.  Ziyal agreed that it was important not to 
take any actions that put the U.S. and Turkey immediately 
into a particular bind, as we work forward. 
 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (C) Having failed to achieve a positive vote on the 
Parliamentary resolution, the AK party will have to 
reconsider its situation beginning tomorrow.  It will be 
faced soon with what should be sobering reactions, from the 
markets in particular, as Ziyal worries.  One way forward 
could be for resubmission soon of a new resolution, but 
conceivably not until after Erdogan's expected victory in the 
Parliamentary by-election next Sunday (March 9) which could 
help the party begin pulling itself back together. 
PEARSON